Machines d’architecture
Copublication Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Jouy-en-Josas / Techniques & Architecture, Paris
French version only
Softback, 24 × 29 cm, 64 pages, 41 color and black-and-white reproductionsTexts by Donald L. Bates, Raoul Bunschoten, Liz Diller, Bruce Dunning, Meton Gadelha, John Hejduk, Patrick Javault, Jeff Kipnis, Daniel Libeskind, Jean de Loisy, Ben Nicholson, Alain Pélissier, Kenneth Rabin, Jesse Reiser, Ricardo Scofidio, Nanako Umemoto, Pieter Versteegh
ISBN: 2-86925-037-1
Publication: February 1992
About the publication
Presented at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in 1992, the exhibition Machines d’architecture was conceived with Patrick Javault around a think tank of architects, the idea being to question construction in its relation to life, art, and privacy.
The Fondation Cartier thus exhibited architects for whom conception and thought take precedence and who set aside most of their time for drawing, writing, and creating machines that are not preliminary studies waiting to be built but actual works that fix the conditions of their potential and build their own realm of reception. The sculptures, texts and poems presented offered an alternative to construction and dwelt on the importance of conception in architectural projects.
The catalog jointly published by the Fondation Cartier and Techniques & Architecture bears witness to this quest. Broadening our perception of architecture, these creators never fail to consider the multifarious practices linked to creation, demonstrating not only that construction needs to be rethought, but that architecture must remain an open perspective.